Distributed antenna communications system

ABSTRACT

A distributed antenna system comprises a base transceiver station, a plurality of distributed antenna units and a signal routing apparatus. The base transceiver station has a plurality of output ports that generate a plurality of downlink signals having overlapping transmit frequencies and containing different communication content. The different communication content is directed toward each of a plurality of mobile units. The base transceiver station also has at least one uplink receive port that receives an uplink signal. The uplink signal includes communication content received from at least one of the mobile units. The plurality of distributed antenna units have coverage areas that are non-overlapping or only partially overlapping. The signal routing apparatus routes the downlink signals to the plurality of distributed antennas such that each of the plurality of downlink signals are transmitted by one or more of the distributed antennas and each distributed antenna only transmits one of the downlink signals.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wireless communications and, moreparticularly, to a distributed antenna system for wirelesscommunications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a conventional wireless cellular telephone network, base transceiverstations (BTS) facilitate communication between mobile units (e.g.cellular telephones) and the telephone network. A typical base stationcomprises multiple transceiver units and antennas for sending radiosignals to the mobile units (downlink) and for receiving radio signalsfrom the mobile units (uplink). The antennas of the base station arepositioned outdoors on a cellular tower or on top of a building. Basestations are strategically located so as to maximize communicationscoverage over large geographical areas. The base stations arecommunicatively coupled to the telephone network via backhaulconnections.

Conventional base stations have employed one transmit output signal andone receive signal for each antenna of the base station. The transmitand receive signals operate at different frequencies which allows forseparation of the transmit and receive signals. This allows the transmitand receive signals to be combined by a duplexer so that a singleantenna can be used for transmitting and receiving these two signals. Sothat multiple mobile devices can communicate simultaneously via theantenna, the transmit and receive signals are each divided into pluralchannels. For example, CDMA (Code-Division, Multiple Access) protocolsfor cellular communication, such as UMTS (Universal MobileTelecommunications System), and TDMA (Time-Division, Multiple-Access)protocols for cellular communication, such as GSM (Global System forMobile Communications), allow several communications channels to becombined into the transmit and receive signals.

In another configuration, a base station employs receive diversity inwhich two antennas are used for receiving the uplink signal from themobile units. In this case, the receive antennas are co-located in thatthey are mounted to the same outdoor structure but spaced slightly apartfrom each other. The signals from each antenna are then combined to formthe uplink signal. This configuration can increase the cell coverage orallow the mobile units to use a lower output power.

Newer generations of base stations support multiple-input,multiple-output (MIMO) configurations. One example is MIMO 2x2 in whichthe base station uses two transmit antennas for the downlink signal andtwo receive antennas for the uplink signal. Another example is MIMO 4x4in which four transmit antennas are employed for the downlink signal andfour receive antennas are employed for the uplink signal. In all theseMIMO configurations, the antennas are co-located in that they aremounted to the same outdoor structure but spaced slightly apart fromeach other

These MIMO configurations are used to improve the throughput of a basestation. This is achieved by the base station combining the multiplesignals obtained from the multiple antennas to make the combined signalstronger or to reduce interference.

While these MIMO configurations can improve communications when themobile devices are located outdoors, signal attenuation caused bybuilding structures (i.e. indoor penetration loss) can still result incommunication difficulties for mobile units when located indoors.

In a distributed antenna system (DAS), transmitted power is dividedamong several antennas in distributed locations so as to provide a largecoverage area using less transmitted power than would be required by asingle antenna. DAS systems have been used to provide indoor coveragefor wireless communications. However, conventional distributed antennasystems leave room for improvement.

What is needed is an improved distributed antenna system for wirelesscommunications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a distributed antenna system. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the system comprises a base transceiverstation having a plurality of output ports that generate a plurality ofdownlink signals having overlapping transmit frequencies and containingdifferent communication content. The different communication content isdirected toward each of a plurality of mobile units. The basetransceiver station also has at least one uplink receive port thatreceives an uplink signal. The uplink signal includes communicationcontent received from at least one of the mobile units. The system alsocomprises a plurality of distributed antenna units having coverage areasthat are non-overlapping or only partially overlapping. The systemfurther comprises a signal routing apparatus for routing the downlinksignals to the plurality of distributed antennas, such that each of theplurality of downlink signals are transmitted by one or more of thedistributed antennas and each distributed antenna only transmits one ofthe downlink signals.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment, the system comprises aplurality of distributed antenna units and a multi-port hub. The hubcomprises a first interface for connection to a base station of atelecommunications system, the first interface comprising a plurality ofdownlink ports for receiving communications from the base transceiverstation and a plurality of uplink ports for sending communications tothe base transceiver station. The hub also comprises a second interfacehaving downlink ports for sending communications to each of theplurality of antenna units and the first interface having uplink portsfor receiving communications from each of the plurality of antennaunits. The hub further comprises a means for reconfiguring the hub amonga plurality of predetermined configurations, each configuration routingone or more downlink ports of the first interface to a selected group ofthe downlink ports of the second interface and routing a selected groupof the uplink ports of the second interface to one or more of the uplinkports of the first interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described with respect to particular exemplaryembodiments thereof and reference is accordingly made to the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a distributed antenna communications system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates details of the multi-port hub of FIG. 1 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 3A-C illustrate exemplary arrangements of coverage areas fordistributed antenna units in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a hub comprising a programmable splitter and aprogrammable combiner in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a hub comprising hard-wired splitters and ahard-wired combiner in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a distributed antenna communications system inaccordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 7A-B illustrate exemplary arrangements of coverage areas fordistributed antenna units in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a distributed antenna communications system 100 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG.1, a base transceiver subsystem (which may also be referred to as a BTSor base station) 102 is communicatively coupled to a communicationsnetwork 104 via a backhaul link 106. Within the communications network104, the backhaul 106 is coupled to a base station controller (BSC) 108,which is, in turn, coupled to a mobile switching center (MSC) 110. TheMSC 110 is coupled to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 112(e.g. for voice communications) and may also be coupled the Internet 114(e.g. for data communications).

The BSC 108 may perform various conventional functions including radiochannel allocation, call handovers among base stations, configuring thebase station 102, handling alarms and performing network managementfunctions. The MSC 110 may perform various conventional functionsincluding circuit switching, and providing applications and callfeatures to mobile subscribers, such as call ringing and roaming. In anembodiment, certain of the features conventionally performed by the BSC108 and MSC 110 may instead be performed by the base station 102. Forexample, the base station 102 may include a local server which isconfigured with a Linux operating system to perform these functions.

The base station 102 is also communicatively coupled to multi-port hub116 by, for example, a wireless link. The base station 102 may belocated at the site of a cellular service provider. The hub 116 iscommunicatively coupled to a plurality of antenna units 118. Each of theantenna units 118 forms a corresponding coverage area. Typically, thehub 116 and antenna units 118 are located indoors. For example, the hub116 may be located in a utility closet of commercial building, while theantenna units 118 may be distributed throughout the building so as toform coverage areas that substantially include the occupied areas withinthe building. The coverage areas of the antenna units 118 are thereforedistributed, meaning that they are non-overlapping or only partiallyoverlapping. The antenna units 118 are coupled to the hub 116 bybi-directional links 122. Each antenna unit 118 may include an antennaand a transceiver.

Mobile communications equipment 120 (e.g., a cellular telephone) withina coverage area is communicatively coupled to the communications network104 via one or more of the antenna units 118, the hub 116, the basestation 102 and the backhaul 106. Together, the hub 116 and antennaunits 118 form a distributed antenna system (DAS). In the exemplarysystem shown in FIG. 1, eight antenna units 118 are provided, though itwill be apparent that a different number of antenna units 118 may beprovided.

The base station 102 may have multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO)capability. This means that the base station 102 may have capability toprocess and send parallel downlink signals (i.e. having the sametransmit frequency or at least overlapping transmit frequency bands orchannels) to multiple transmitting antennas. In addition, the basestation 102 may have capability to receive a parallel uplink signalsfrom multiple receiving antennas and to process the signals from eachantenna into a combined signal. In this case, the signals from eachantenna are at the same receive frequency or at least in overlappingfrequency bands and may contain redundant content and/or overlappingchannels.

FIG. 2 illustrates details of the multi-port hub of FIG. 1 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. The base station 102 isconnected to one or more transmit (downlink) ports of the hub 116. Asshown in FIG. 2, these downlink ports are labeled D_(A), D_(B), D_(C) ,and D_(D). As is also shown in FIG. 2, a solid line shows that the basestation 102 is connected to the port D_(A). Dotted lines show optionalconnections to ports D_(B), D_(C) and D_(D), . For example, if MIMO 2x2is employed, the base station 102 will have two connections to thedownlink ports and two connections to uplink ports. In the case of MIMO4x4 four connections for each of the uplink and downlink may beemployed. While a maximum of four connections to four downlink ports areshown in FIG. 2, it will be apparent that this is exemplary and that adifferent number of ports may be provided.

The transmit (downlink) signals received from the base station 102 havethe same or at least overlapping frequencies; for example, they mayoperate on the same frequency channel. However, they may containdifferent communication content. For example, a first downlink signalmay be transmitted at port D_(A) and may be operating in the 1900 , MHzfrequency band. This first downlink signal may contain communicationcontent directed toward a particular mobile unit 120. A second downlinksignal may be transmitted at port D_(B) and may also be operating in the1900 , MHz frequency band. However, this second downlink signal maycontain different communication content from that of the first downlinksignal. This content of the second downlink signal may be directed adifferent one of the mobile units. Either of these mobile units mayreceive the signal intended for the other. In this case, the mobile unitmay disregard the content intended for the other.

The downlink signal from ports D₁ through D₄ are routed by the hub 116to selected groups of the antenna units 118. As shown in FIG. 2, the hub116 is provided with transmit (downlink) ports D₁ through D₈one for eachof the eight antenna units 118. A reconfigurable switch 124 routes thedownlink signals from the base station ports D_(A) through D_(D) toselected ones of the downlink antenna ports D₁ through D₈. For example,if there are eight antenna units 118 and MIMO 2x2 configuration isemployed, half of the remote antenna units 118 may be connected todownlink port D_(A) , and the other half to downlink port D_(B). In onesuch configuration, downlink port D_(A) may be connected to antennaports D₁, D₂, D₃ and D₄while downlink port D_(B) may be connected toantenna ports D₅, D₆, D₇ and D₈. Therefore, in this configuration, thedownlink signal at base station port D_(A) is repeated at antenna portsD₁, D₂, D₃ , and D₄. Similarly, the signal at base station port portD_(B) is repeated at antenna ports D₅, D₆, D₇ and D₈. In an alternativeconfiguration, downlink port D_(A) may be connected to antenna ports D₁,D₃, D₅ and D₇, while downlink port D_(B) may be connected to antennaports D₂, D₄, D₆ , and D₈.

The base station 102 is also connected to one or more receive (uplink)ports of the hub 116. As shown in FIG. 2, these uplink ports are labeledU_(A), U_(B), U_(C) , and U_(D). As is also shown in FIG. 2, a solidline shows that the base station 102 is connected to the port U_(A).Dotted lines show optional connections to ports U_(B), U_(C) and U_(D).For example, if MIMO 2x2 is used, the base station 102 will have twoconnections to the uplink ports. In the case of MIMO 4x4 , fourconnections may be employed. While a maximum of four connections to fouruplink ports are shown in FIG. 2, it will be apparent that this isexemplary and that a different number of ports may be provided.

The uplink signals from selected groups of the antennas are routed bythe hub 116 to the base station uplink ports U_(A), U_(B), U_(C) orU_(D). As shown in FIG. 2, the hub 116 is provided with receive (uplink)ports U₁ through U₈, one for each of the eight antenna units 118. Thereconfigurable switch 124 routes the uplink signals from the antennabase station ports U_(A) through U_(D) to selected ones of the uplinkantenna ports U₁ through U₈. For example, if there are eight antennaunits 118 and a MIMO 2x2 configuration is used, half of the remoteantenna units 118 may be connected to uplink port U_(A) and the otherhalf to uplink port U_(B). In one such configuration, uplink port U_(A)may be connected to antenna ports U₁, U₂, U₃ and U₄, while uplink portU_(B) may be connected to antenna ports U₅, U₆, U₇ and U₈. Therefore, inthis configuration, uplink signals at antenna ports U₁, U₂, U₃ and U₄ ,may be combined by signal summation to form the uplink signal at basestation port U_(A). Similarly, the signal at antenna ports U₅, U₆, U₇and U₈ are combined to form the uplink signal at base station portU_(B). In an alternative configuration, uplink port U_(A) may beconnected to antenna ports U₁, U₃, U₅ and U₇, while uplink port U_(B)may be connected to antenna ports U₂, U₄, U₆ and U₈.

The receive (uplink) signals received from the hub 102 at the uplinkports U_(A) through U_(D) have the same receive frequency and containredundant content and/or overlapping channels. However, the uplinksignals may not contain identical content since the signal transmittedby a particular mobile device may be present within a channel of one ofthe uplink signals, but may not be present in all of the uplink signalsor it may be present with different signal strength.

The system 100 is capable of supporting duplex communications betweenthe base station 102 and the mobile units 120. In a preferredembodiment, each antenna unit 118 uses single antenna for the duplexeduplink and downlink signals. For example, the uplink and downlinksignals may operate in accordance with frequency division duplexing.Alternatively, the uplink and downlink signals may operate in accordancewith time division duplexing. Referring to the drawings, the downlinksignal at antenna port D₁ and the uplink signal at antenna port U₁ maybe duplexed. The downlink and uplink signals at the other ports may besimilarly duplexed.

The downlink signals generated by the base station 102 may be radiofrequency (RF) signals. Similarly, the downlink signals transmitted bythe antenna units 118 may be RF. Accordingly, the downlink signals maybe routed by the hub 116 in RF without frequency conversion.Alternatively, RF downlink signals generated by the base station 102 maybe down-converted to intermediate frequency (IF) signals for routing bythe hub 116. The IF signals may then be up-converted to RF prior toretransmission by the antenna units 118. For example, for the downlink,the hub 116 may include frequency down-converters in the path betweenthe ports D_(A), D_(B), D_(C) and D_(D) and the switch 124. Also for thedownlink, frequency up-converters may be located in the hub 116 betweenthe switch 124 and the ports D₁ though D₈. Alternatively, the frequencyup-converters may be located in the antenna units 118. For the uplink,frequency down-converters may be located in the hub 116 between theports U₁ , through U₈ , the switch 124 or in the antenna units 118. Alsofor the uplink, frequency up-converters may be located in the hub 116between the switch 124 and the ports U_(A), U_(B), U_(C) , and U_(D), .

The DAS system may be connected to various different base stations thatsupport various different MIMO configurations. The reconfigurable switch124 of the hub 116 accommodates these different base stationconfigurations. In addition, the hub 116 may also allow a user to select(through a user interface) among permissible predeterminedconfigurations of the switch 124. Using the examples above, for MIMO 2x2, the reconfigurable switch 124 may connect half of the remote antennaunits 118 to downlink port D_(A) and the other half to downlink portD_(B). However, there may be multiple permissible alternatives formaking such a connection. In a first configuration, downlink port D_(A)may be connected to antenna ports D₁, D₂, D₃ and D₄, while downlink portD_(B) may be connected to antenna ports D₅, D₆, D₇ and D₈. In a secondconfiguration, downlink port D_(A) may be connected to antenna ports D₁,D₃, D₅ and D₇, while downlink port D_(B) may be connected to antennaports D₂, D₄, D₆ and D₈. For such a MIMO 2x2 configuration, the portsD_(C), D_(D), U_(C) and U_(D) are unused and, thus, may have noconnection.

In a preferred embodiment, the hub 116 automatically determines which ofthe base station downlink ports D_(A) through D_(B) are active and whichof the base station uplink ports U_(A) through U_(B) are active. The hub116 may also determine which of the antenna downlink ports D₁ though D₈and uplink ports U₁ though U₈ have a connected antenna unit 118. Thismay be accomplished a hub controller 126 sensing whether electricalsignals are present at the ports (e.g. by field strength sensing) orsensing whether a cable is mechanically plugged into the ports (e.g. bya mechanical switch). This determination of which ports are active isthen determinative of the permissible predetermined configurations ofthe switch 124. In this case, the switch 124 can be configured andreconfigured by the hub controller 126 (i.e. the switch 124 isreconfigurable under remote control).

Where a maximum of four downlink and four uplink base station ports areprovided, typical configurations of the base station 102 include:single-input, single-output (which may also be referred to as “SISO” or“MIMO 1x1”); single-input, dual-output (which may also be referred to as“SIMO 1x2” or “MIMO 1x2”); single-input, quad-output (which may also bereferred to as “SIMO 1x4” or “MIMO 1x4”); dual-input, single-output(which may also be referred to as “MISO 2x1” or “MIMO 2x1”); dual-input,dual-output (which may also be referred to as “MIMO 2x2”); dual-input,quad-output (which may also be referred to as “MIMO 2x4”); quad-input,single-output (which may also be referred to as “MISO 4x1” or “MIMO4x1”); quad-input, dual-output (which may also be referred to as “MIMO4x2”); and quad-input, quad-output (which may also be referred to as“MIMO 4x4”).

For MIMO 1x1 , one downlink base station port (e.g. port D_(A)) and oneuplink base station port (e.g. port U_(A)) are active. In this case,there may be a single permissible configuration of the switch 124 inwhich the base station port D_(A) is connected to all of the downlinkantenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ though D₈) and in which all of the uplinkantenna ports (e.g. ports U₁ through U₂) are connected to the basestation port U_(A).

For MIMO 1x2 one downlink base station port (e.g. port D_(A)) and twouplink base station ports (e.g. ports U_(A) and U_(B)) are active. Inthis case, there may be multiple permissible configurations of theswitch 124. In the permissible configurations, the base station portD_(A) may be connected to all of the downlink antenna ports (e.g. portsD₁ though D₈) while the uplink antenna ports (e.g. ports U₁ through U₈)may be divided into two groups with one group being connected to thebase station port U_(A) and the other group connected to the basestation port U_(B).

FIGS. 3A-C illustrate exemplary arrangements of coverage areas 128 forthe distributed antenna units 118. In a preferred embodiment, thecoverage areas 128 are located indoors, within a building 130. Forexample, the arrangements may be for a single story building or a singlelevel in a multi-story building. Each coverage area 128 corresponds toan antenna unit 118 and, thus, each coverage area 128 also correspondsto an antenna port of the hub 116. The coverage areas shown in FIG. 3A-Care preferably distributed uniformly within the building 130 and areequally applicable to downlink and uplink signaling. Because there areeight downlink and uplink antenna ports, there are eight coverage areas128 shown in FIGS. 3A-C. The coverage areas 128 are drawn roughlycircular and labeled with the number of the corresponding antenna port.FIG. 3A shows that the coverage areas for antenna ports 1-4 form a firstgroup and that coverage areas for antenna ports 5-8 form a second group.

Thus, returning to the MIMO 1x2 example, FIG. 3A shows that the uplinkantenna ports U₁ through U₄ are in the first group and are connected tothe base station port U_(A) and that the uplink antenna ports U₅ throughU₈ are in the second group and are connected to the base station portU_(B). In FIG. 3A, the groups of remote antenna units are arranged tomaximize the contiguous areas of coverage and to minimize boundariesbetween the coverage areas of different groups of antenna units 118. Itcan be seen that the contiguous areas of coverage are maximized becausethe areas of the antennas for ports 1, 2, 3 and 4 form one contiguousarea, while the areas of the antennas for ports 5, 6, 7 and 8 formanother contiguous area. It can also be seen that the boundaries areminimized in FIG. 3A since there are only two areas of overlap betweencoverage areas of the different groups: between the areas of theantennas for ports 3 and 5 and between the areas of the antennas forports 4 and 6. Such a configuration is beneficial to reduce interferenceamong different mobile units 140 that are communicating with the basestation 102 via different antenna units 118.

FIG. 3B shows that the uplink antenna ports U₁, U₂, U₅and U₆ are in thefirst group and are connected to the base station port U_(A) and thatthe uplink antenna ports U₃, U₄, U₇, and U₈ are in the second group andare connected to the base station port U_(B). In this configuration, theantenna unit 118 are adjacent to antenna units 118 in a different group.In FIG. 3B, the groups of remote antenna units are arranged to minimizethe contiguous areas of coverage and to maximize the boundaries betweenthe coverage areas of different groups of antenna units 118. It can beseen that the contiguous areas of coverage are minimized, in comparisonto the arrangement of FIG. 3A because each contiguous area only includethe areas of two antennas. It can also be seen that the boundaries aremaximized in comparison to that of FIG. 3A since in FIG. 3B there aresix areas of overlap between coverage areas of the different groups:between the areas of the antennas for ports 1 and 3; between the areasof the antennas for ports 2 and 4; between the areas of the antennas forports 3 and 5; between the areas of the antennas for ports 4 and 6;between the areas of the antennas for ports 5 and 7; and between theareas of the antennas for ports 6 and 8. Such a configuration tends tomaximize interference among adjacent coverage areas and is, thus,beneficial for interference cancellation.

Still another arrangement that would further minimize the contiguousareas of coverage and to maximize the boundaries between the coverageareas of different antenna units 118 would be to arrange the areas ofcoverage 128 in an alternating, checkerboard pattern (e.g. with uplinkantenna ports U₁, U₄, U₅ and U₈ being in the first group and with uplinkantenna ports U₂, U₃, U₆ and U₇ being in the second group).

FIG. 3C shows an embodiment in which the uplink antenna ports U₁, U₃,U₅, and U₇ are in the first group and are connected to the base stationport U_(A), . In addition, the uplink antenna ports U₂, U₄, U₆, and U₈are in the second group and are connected to the base station portU_(B). This configuration is essentially a compromise between theconfigurations of FIGS. 3A and 3B.

In an embodiment, the user may select from among the permissibleconfigurations of the switch 124 and, thus, the grouping arrangements ofthe antenna coverage areas 128. For example, the user may try eachgrouping arrangement for a period of time and then may be select the onewhich yields the greatest overall performance for continuous operation.It will be apparent that the predetermined groups of FIGS. 3A-C areexemplary and that different groups may be formed.

For MIMO 1x4, one downlink base station port (e.g. port D_(A)) and fouruplink base station ports (e.g. ports U_(A) through U_(D)) are active.In this case, there may be multiple permissible configurations of theswitch 124. In the permissible configurations, the base station portD_(A) may be connected to all of the downlink antenna ports (e.g. portsD₁ though D₈) while the uplink antenna ports (e.g. ports U₁ through U₈)may be divided into four groups with one group being connected to eachof the base station ports U_(A) through U_(D). As before, thepermissible groupings may either minimize interference by minimizingboundaries or may maximize interference by maximizing boundaries or mayrepresent a compromise between the two extremes. The user may selectfrom among a plurality of permissible grouping arrangements.

For MIMO 2x1 , two downlink base station ports (e.g. ports D_(A) andD_(B)) and one uplink base station port (e.g. port U_(A)) are active. Inthis case, there may be multiple permissible configurations of theswitch 124. In the permissible configurations, the base station portU_(A) , may be connected to all of the uplink antenna ports (e.g. portsU₁ though U₈) while the downlink antenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ throughD₈) may be divided into two groups with one group being connected to thebase station port D_(A) and the other group being connected to the basestation port D_(B). In this case, the user may select from among thepermissible groups (which may include the groups of FIGS. 3A-C) for thedownlink signals.

For MIMO 2x2 , two downlink base station ports (e.g. ports D_(A) andD_(B)) and two uplink base station ports (e.g. ports U_(A) and U_(B))are active. In this case, there may be multiple permissibleconfigurations of the switch 124. In the permissible configurations, thedownlink antenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ through D₈) may be divided intotwo groups with one group being connected to the base station port D_(A)and the other group being connected to the base station port D_(B). Inaddition, the uplink antenna ports (e.g. ports U₁ through U₈) may bedivided into two groups with one group being connected to the basestation port U_(A) and the other group connected to the base stationport U_(B). In this case, the user may select from among the permissiblegroups (which may include the groups of FIGS. 3A-C) for the uplink andfor the downlink signals.

For MIMO 2x4 , two downlink base station ports (e.g. ports D_(A) andD_(B)) and four uplink base station ports (e.g. ports U_(A) thoughU_(D)) are active. In this case, there may be multiple permissibleconfigurations of the switch 124. In the permissible configurations, thedownlink antenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ through D₈) may be divided intotwo groups with one group being connected to the base station port D_(A)and the other group being connected to the base station port D_(B). Inaddition, the uplink antenna ports (e.g. ports U₁ through U₈) may bedivided into four groups with one group being connected to each of thebase station ports U_(A) through U_(D). In this case, the user mayselect from among a plurality of permissible groups for the uplink andfor the downlink signals.

For MIMO 4x1 , four downlink base station ports (e.g. ports D_(A)through D_(D)) and one uplink base station port (e.g. port U_(A)) areactive. In this case, there may be multiple permissible configurationsof the switch 124. In the permissible configurations, the downlinkantenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ through D₈) may be divided into four groupswith one group being connected to each of the base station ports D_(A)through D_(D) while the base station port U_(A) may be connected to allof the uplink antenna ports (e.g. ports U₁ though U₈). As with otherMIMO configurations, the permissible groupings may either minimizeinterference by minimizing boundaries or may maximize interference bymaximizing boundaries or may represent a compromise between the twoextremes. The user may select from among a plurality of permissiblegrouping arrangements for the downlink signals.

For MIMO 4x2 , four downlink base station ports (e.g. ports D_(A)through D_(B)) and two uplink base station ports (e.g. ports U_(A) andU_(D)) are active. In this case, there may be multiple permissibleconfigurations of the switch 124. In the permissible configurations, thedownlink antenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ through D₈) may be divided intofour groups with one group being connected to each of the base stationports D_(A) through D_(D). In addition, the uplink antenna ports (e.g.ports U₁ through U₈) may be divided into two groups with one group beingconnected to the base station port U_(A) and the other group beingconnected to the base station port U_(B). In this case, the user mayselect from among a plurality of permissible groups for the uplink andfor the downlink signals.

For MIMO 4x4, four downlink base station ports (e.g. ports D_(A) throughD_(B)) and four uplink base station ports (e.g. ports U_(A) thoughU_(D)) are active. In this case, there may be multiple permissibleconfigurations of the switch 124. In the permissible configurations, thedownlink antenna ports (e.g. ports D₁ through D₈) may be divided intofour groups with one group being connected to each of the base stationports D_(A) through D_(D). In addition, the uplink antenna ports (e.g.ports U₁ through U₈) may be divided into four groups with one groupbeing connected to each of the base station ports U_(A) through U_(D).In this case, the user may select from among a plurality of permissiblegroups for the uplink and for the downlink signals.

The reconfigurable switch 124 may be implemented by, for example, signalrouting elements chosen from among a cross-bar switch, an appropriateconfiguration of multiplexers, or an appropriate arrangement of signalsplitters and combiners. In each case, the switch 124 may be remotelyreconfigured under control of the hub controller 126. FIG. 4 shows anexemplary embodiment of the hub 116 in which a programmable splitter 132may be provided for the downlink with each downlink base station portD_(A) though D_(D) being connected to an input of the splitter 132 andwith the outputs of the splitter 132 being connected to the downlinkantenna ports D₁ through D₈. The splitter 132 can be remotely controlledto cause the downlink signals to be routed from any of the base stationports D_(A) though D_(D) to any of the antenna ports D₁ through D₈. Forthe uplink, a programmable combiner 134 may be provided for the uplinkwith the inputs of the combiner 134 being connected to the uplinkantenna ports U₁ through U₈ and with the outputs of the combiner 134being connected to the uplink base station ports U_(A) though U_(D). Thecombiner 134 can be remotely controlled to cause the uplink signals tobe routed from any antenna port to any base station port. Operation ofthe hub 116, including the configuration of the reconfigurable switch124, may controlled by a hub controller 126. The signal routing elementsmay be passive (without amplification) or active (with amplification).

In an alternative embodiment, rather than being remote controlled, theswitch 124 is manually configured (i.e. “hard-wired”). FIG. 5illustrates the hub 116 in which the downlink and uplink signals arerouted by splitters 136, 138 and a combiner 140. More particularly, thesplitter 136 is a one-to-four splitter having its input connected to thebase station downlink port D_(A). The four outputs of the splitter 136are connected to the antenna downlink ports D₁, D₂, D₃andD₄respectively. The splitter 138 is a one-to-four splitter having itsinput connected to the base station downlink port D_(B). The fouroutputs of the splitter 138 are connected to the antenna downlink portsD₅, D₆, D₇and D₈respectively. The combiner 140 is an eight-to-onecombiner having its output connected to the base station uplink portU_(A). The eight inputs of the combiner 140 are connected to the antennauplink ports U₁ through U₈respectively. The configuration of FIG. 5 isMIMO 2x1 with the transmit coverage areas arranged as in FIG. 3A. Itwill be apparent that the particular configuration of FIG. 5 isexemplary and that the hub 116 may be manually configured in a varietyof signal routing configurations. For example, the hub 116 may comprisecables, one or more splitters and one or more combiners located in awiring closet; these elements of the hub 116 may be manually configuredand reconfigured as desired.

In the embodiments described above, each antenna unit 118 comprises onetransmitting and one receiving antenna (though these duplex functionsmay be performed by a single antenna). In an alternative embodiment, anantenna unit may be provided with two or more transmitting and/orreceiving antennas. FIG. 6 illustrates a distributed antennacommunications system in accordance with an alternative embodiment ofthe present invention. The system of FIG. 6 differs from that of FIG. 2in that each of a plurality of antenna units 142 comprise twotransmitting and two receiving antennas. As before, each antenna mayperform duplex transmitting and receiving functions. However, in thesystem of FIG. 6, the antennas of a particular antenna unit 142 areco-located such that their coverage areas substantially overlap. Twoantennas of the same antenna unit 142 may be connected to different basestation downlink and/or base station uplink ports. For example, thedownlink signal from base station port D_(A) may be routed to a firstantenna of a particular antenna unit 142 while the downlink signal frombase station port D_(B) may be routed to a second antenna of that sameantenna unit. Similarly, the uplink signal from a first antenna of aparticular antenna unit 142 may be routed to the base station uplinkport U_(A) while the uplink signal from a second antenna of that thesame antenna unit 142 may be routed to the base station uplink portU_(B).

The antenna units 142 of FIG. 6 are distributed (e.g. throughout theoccupied areas of a building). FIGS. 7A-B illustrate exemplaryarrangements of coverage areas 144 for distributed antenna units inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. Particularly,FIGS. 7A-B show that the coverage areas 144 for downlink and uplinkantenna ports D₁, U₁, D₂ and U₂ are co-located (e.g. at area “1”) andthat coverage areas 144 for downlink and uplink antenna ports D₃, U₃, D₄and U₄ are co-located (e.g. at area “2”). In addition, FIGS. 7A-B showthat the coverage areas 144 for downlink and uplink antenna ports D₅,U₅, D₆ and U₆ are co-located (e.g. at area “3”) and that coverage areas144 for downlink and uplink antenna ports D₇, U₇, D₈ , and U₈ , areco-located (e.g. at area “4”).

In the embodiment of FIG. 7A, the antenna ports U₁ and U₇ (correspondingto the areas “1” and “4,” respectively) may be connected to the basestation uplink port U_(A) while antenna ports U₂ and U₈ (alsocorresponding to the areas “1” and “4,” respectively) may be connectedto the base station uplink port U_(B). Additionally in FIG. 7A, theantenna ports U₃ and U₅ (corresponding to the areas “2” and “3,”respectively) may be connected to the base station uplink port U_(C)while antenna ports U₄ and U₆ (also corresponding to the areas “2” and“3,” respectively) may be connected to the base station uplink portU_(D). The downlink antenna ports may be connected to the base stationdownlink ports in a like manner. In FIG. 7A, the coverage areas arearranged to minimize the contiguous areas of coverage and to maximizeboundaries between the coverage areas of different antenna units 142.

In the embodiment of FIG. 7B, the antenna ports U₁ , and U₃ ,(corresponding to the areas “1” and “2,” respectively) may be connectedto the base station uplink port U_(A) while antenna ports U₂ and U₄(also corresponding to the areas “1” and “2,” respectively) may beconnected to the base station uplink port U_(B). Additionally in FIG.7B, the antenna ports U₅ and U₇ (corresponding to the areas “3” and “4,”respectively) may be connected to the base station uplink port U_(A)while antenna ports U₆ and U₈ (also corresponding to the areas “3” and“4,” respectively) may be connected to the base station uplink portU_(B). The downlink antenna ports may be connected to the base stationdownlink ports in a like manner. In FIG. 7B, the coverage areas arearranged to maximize the contiguous areas of coverage and to minimizeboundaries between the coverage areas of different antenna units 142.

Therefore, in FIGS. 7A-B, antennas are co-located in pairs, while thepairs are distributed. The pairs may be distributed to minimizeboundaries between the coverage areas of different antenna units 142 inorder to minimize interference. Alternatively, the pairs may bedistributed at maximize boundaries between the coverage areas ofdifferent antenna units 142 in order to maximize interferencecancellation.

The foregoing detailed description of the present invention is providedfor the purposes of illustration and is not intended to be exhaustive orto limit the invention to the embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, thescope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

1. A distributed antenna system comprising: a base transceiver stationhaving a plurality of output ports that generate a plurality of downlinksignals having overlapping transmit frequencies and containing differentcommunication content, the different communication content beingdirected toward each of a plurality of mobile units and the basetransceiver station having at least one uplink receive port thatreceives an uplink signal, the uplink signal including communicationcontent received from at least one of the mobile units; a plurality ofdistributed antenna units, each of which is located at a respectivelocation that is remote from the base transceiver station, the pluralityof distributed antenna units having coverage areas that arenon-overlapping or only partially overlapping; and a signal routingapparatus comprising a reconfigurable switch that selectively routes thedownlink signals to the plurality of distributed antenna units, suchthat each of the plurality of downlink signals are transmitted by one ormore of the distributed antenna units and each distributed antenna unitonly transmits one of the downlink signals; wherein the signal routingapparatus is further configured to reconfigure the reconfigurable switchand to automatically sense connections to the base transceiver stationfor use in connection with reconfiguring the reconfigurable switch. 2.The distributed antenna system according to claim 1, wherein the uplinksignal includes communication content from each of the plurality ofmobile units.
 3. The distributed antenna system according to claim 1,wherein the base transceiver station comprises a plurality of receiveports that receive a plurality of uplink signals having overlappingfrequencies, and containing different communication content receivedfrom each of the plurality of mobile units.
 4. The distributed antennasystem according to claim 3, wherein the signal routing apparatus routesthe uplink signals from the plurality of distributed antenna units tothe plurality of receive ports of the base transceiver station such thateach of the plurality of uplink signals are received from a group of thedistributed antenna units.
 5. The distributed antenna system accordingto claim 4, wherein the signal routing apparatus is configured tomaximize boundaries between coverage areas of the groups of distributedantenna units.
 6. The distributed antenna system according to claim 4,wherein the signal routing apparatus is configured to minimizeboundaries between coverage areas of the groups of distributed antennaunits.
 7. The distributed antenna system according to claim 1 whereinthe signal routing apparatus is configured to accept user input forselecting among permissible configurations of the reconfigurable switch.8. The distributed antenna system according to claim 1, wherein thesignal routing apparatus comprises one or more hard-wired signalsplitters for routing the downlink transmit signals to the distributedantenna units.
 9. The distributed antenna system according to claim 1,wherein downlink and uplink signals are time division duplexed at eachof the distributed antenna units.
 10. The distributed antenna systemaccording to claim 1, wherein downlink and uplink signals are frequencydivision duplexed at each of the distributed antenna units.
 11. Thedistributed antenna system according to claim 1, wherein the distributedantenna units are located indoors.
 12. The distributed antenna systemaccording to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of downlink signalsare transmitted by a group of the distributed antennas and the signalrouting apparatus is configured to minimize boundaries between coverageareas of the groups of distributed antenna units.
 13. The distributedantenna system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality ofdownlink signals are transmitted by a group of the distributed antennaunits and the signal routing apparatus is configured to maximizeboundaries between coverage areas of the groups of distributed antennaunits.
 14. The distributed antenna system according to claim 1, furthercomprising at least one co-located antenna, the co-located antenna beingco-located with one of the distributed antenna units and the co-locatedantenna transmitting a different one of the downlink signals from thattransmitted by the distributed antenna unit with which the co-locatedantenna is co-located.
 15. A distributed antenna system comprising: abase transceiver station having at least one output port that generatesa downlink signal including communication content directed to at leastone of a mobile units and the base transceiver station having aplurality of receive ports that receive a plurality of uplink signalshaving overlapping frequencies and containing different communicationcontent received from each of the plurality of mobile units; a pluralityof distributed antenna units, each of which is located at a respectivelocation that is remote from the base transceiver station, the pluralityof distributed antenna units having coverage areas that arenon-overlapping or only partially overlapping; and a signal routingapparatus comprising a reconfigurable switch that selectively routes theuplink signals from the plurality of distributed antenna units to theplurality of receive ports of the base transceiver station, such thateach of the plurality of uplink signals are received from two or more ofthe distributed antenna units; wherein the signal routing apparatus isfurther configured to reconfigure the reconfigurable switch and toautomatically sense connections to the base transceiver station for usein connection with reconfiguring the reconfigurable switch.
 16. Thedistributed antenna system according to claim 15, wherein the uplinksignal includes communication content from each of the plurality ofmobile units.
 17. The distributed antenna system according to claim 15,wherein the base transceiver station comprises a plurality of outputports that generate a plurality of downlink signals having overlappingtransmit frequencies and containing different communication content, thedifferent communication content being directed toward each of aplurality of mobile units.
 18. The distributed antenna system accordingto claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of downlink signals aretransmitted by a group of the distributed antennas and the signalrouting apparatus is configured to minimize boundaries between coverageareas of the groups of distributed antenna units.
 19. The distributedantenna system according to claim 17, wherein each of the plurality ofdownlink signals are transmitted by a group of the distributed antennaunits and the signal routing apparatus is configured to maximizeboundaries between coverage areas of the groups of distributed antennaunits.
 20. The distributed antenna system according to claim 17, whereinthe signal routing apparatus routes the uplink signals from theplurality of distributed antenna units to the plurality of receive portsof the base transceiver station such that each of the plurality ofuplink signals are received from a group of the distributed antennaunits.
 21. The distributed antenna system according to claim 20, whereinthe signal routing apparatus is configured to maximize boundariesbetween coverage areas of the groups of distributed antenna units. 22.The distributed antenna system according to claim 20, wherein the signalrouting apparatus is configured to minimize boundaries between coverageareas of the groups of distributed antenna units.
 23. The distributedantenna system according to claim 17, further comprising at least oneco-located antenna, the co-located antenna being co-located with one ofthe distributed antenna units and the co-located antenna transmitting adifferent one of the downlink signals from that transmitted by thedistributed antenna unit with which the co-located antenna isco-located.
 24. The distributed antenna system according to claim 15,wherein the signal routing apparatus is configured to accept user inputfor selecting among permissible configurations of the reconfigurableswitch.
 25. The distributed antenna system according to claim 15,wherein the signal routing apparatus comprises one or more hard-wiredsignal splitters for routing the downlink transmit signals to thedistributed antenna units.
 26. The distributed antenna system accordingto claim 15, wherein downlink and uplink signals are time divisionduplexed at each of the distributed antenna units.
 27. The distributedantenna system according to claim 15, wherein downlink and uplinksignals are frequency division duplexed at each of the distributedantenna units.
 28. The distributed antenna system according to claim 15,wherein the distributed antenna units are located indoors.